My life as a mom with 5 young children is beautifully imperfect

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How Much is Enough?

A few months ago I decided to launch an all out attack on the clutter in our home. I was sick and tired, sick AND tired I said, of the junk that gets left laying around day after day. Here is a sneak peek at the bigs room after they left for school one day. By the way, this is a typical day.

These pictures are for real. I did not toss their room.

So my plan was to grab a garbage bag and put everything in it that they left laying around. I told them their rooms were to be clean before going to school, and their other assigned areas were to be done before going to bed. Good plan right?

I figured I would collect a bunch of stuff for the first few days while they tested to see if I was “serious”. But then they would begin to need some of their things back. Either they would have nothing to wear or nothing to do. And I would feel bad for them, not to mention responsible for their library book that was for sure going to be in there. So I would allow them to buy back the stuff they wanted if they had the money. $1 per item. Sounds even better, right? They are going to learn some responsibility for their things for sure. I’m a good mommy!

Well, the joke’s on me! Instead, of more responsible kids, I ended up with a pile of junk in my room for over a month. The first week the bigs needed a few of their favorite clothes, but after that no one has needed anything out of here, so it just keeps piling up.

Obviously we have too much stuff!

I figure I spend about 1/3 of my day picking up, cleaning, organizing, moving, and sorting stuff instead of visiting with neighbors, playing with my kiddos, or relaxing myself.

Something needs to change. I would like a less cluttered life. I would like to not always be in a rush. I would like to spend time with friends and kids and husband without the nagging in my head that there is a list of things to be done and I could be doing them NOW. I just want to be free to be social, the way God made me.

But I believe, without a doubt, this is not the way God wants me to spend my time.

I ran across this a few months ago and was really struck by it. While I digest this and come up with a new and improved “plan” see what you think:

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10 thoughts on “How Much is Enough?”

Peter Walsh wrote a book called, “It’s All Too Much”. Good read in all of your spare time lol! No really, it reinforces the ideas that you are thinking about and helps to become more organized in the practicality of the doing of these concepts. Also a book I read a long time ago called “Little House on the Freeway” is another good one that helps to sort out what is really important on the home front. It is very difficult to keep a focus of “less is enough” in our world when you are just by yourself or with your family. I think it is even much harder when you see TV and movies and magazines and computer (facebook, pinterest, etc). For me it was bad enough to try to keep my own thoughts in check, let alone being able to teach to my kids HA! YOU CAN DO IT! and I think that any effort in this kind of thinking is way better than none at all. I have a hard time not “grading” my progress, to know if I am actually doing well. Like many areas we grow in, we don’t always notice the “results” or progress right away, but I am sure it pleases the Lord any time when we make adjustments to keep our eyes more focused on Him. You go girl! And thanks for giving us all a healthy reminder to remember just what is important!!!

Oh sister, you are speaking my language. I tell Dave all the time, my job mostly consists of managing our “stuff” which in the end has no real value…sentimental or eternal. And I consider myself somewhat of a minimalist. Thanks for writing this up and sharing it. I believe it is a bit of a culture/spiritual battle that we face as Chrisitans in America. FIght the good fight! 🙂